Smash the Capital, Join the Country: Godzilla Gains Japanese Citizenship

You may think that the last thing you’d want to do with a monster famed for smashing up your country is make him a permanent resident, but whoever said the movies or fandoms made sense?

No, you didn’t read wrong: the legendary radioactive sea monster has been officially registered as a citizen of Japan, after papers were drawn up by city officials to claim him as a resident of Shinjuku, Tokyo. 5,000 copies of these papers have been printed and distributed free to fans on a first come, first served basis.

Don’t worry though: if you can’t afford a flight out to Japan, or whatever price the documents end up being sold on for on eBay, at least you can still find out what they say. According to Rocket News, the papers read as follows:

Name: Godzilla

Address: Shinjuku-ku, Kabuki-cho, 1-19-1

Date of birth: April 9, 1954 [the year of the release of the very first Godzilla film]

Date of becoming a Shinjuku resident: April 9, 2015

Reason for special residency: Promoting the entertainment of and watching over the Kabuki-cho neighbourhood and drawing visitors from around the globe in the form of the Godzilla head built atop the Shinjuku Toho Building.

Lest we forget, the original 1954 movie ended with attempts by the city’s inhabitants to destroy Godzilla, so things have certainly changed. With “watching over the Kabuki-cho neighbourhood” given as one of the reasons for his acceptance, perhaps more sympathetic portrayals in subsequent films had something to do with with the decision. That, or it’s a clever marketing ploy both for Toho and Tokyo tourism.